Summary

After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel, Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today's leading master of what Tolkien called 'secondary creation', the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own. Warbreaker is the story of two sisters who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can be collected only one unit at a time from individual people.
By using breath and drawing upon the colour in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron, the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery; and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

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Customer Reviews

Missing its impact

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I came into this book hoping for a classic Brandon Sanderson book and I got what I expected from the story, it's well written and the magic systems are always brilliantly thought out. It's definitely worth listening to once.

How could the performance have been better?

The narration is my biggest gripe with the book and it's one of the things I really hoped to be a nice change. Initially, it was lovely to hear Alyssa Bresnahan narrate but as time went on I started to notice her lack of impact on major parts of the story. The storm light series read by Micheal and Kate always hit the nail on the head, building up the story with amazing narration and I just didn't get the same quality of narration from Alyssa.

Painfully slow to get going but worth persevering

First time with this author and he has some great ideas and creates a convincing story once he gets over the tedious character development. Endless repetition of simple ideas insult the readers intelligence and it takes forever for the brakes to come off and to finally get going. Even then the author cannot resist reminding you (for the 20th time) that this person is the lazy one, that character is the reckless one who dislikes authority in case you forgot from 5 minutes ago.

I hate leaving books unfinished but 8 hours in I was seriously considering quitting but I'm glad I saw this one through. There are some genuinely original ideas here and the story twists and turns to a satisfying conclusion, all be it to set the stage for a sequel to tie up loose ends.

I will try another from Brandon Sanderson, but please get this guy an editor. The first 6 - 8 hours flow like treacle and yet the conclusion in the last couple of hours seems hasty and rushed and leaves a few plot strands hanging.

Narrator was only OK. Clear diction but a slightly lifeless performance, improved by listening at 1.3 speed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful

5 out of 5 stars
By
Valtteri
on
23-05-18

A bit more positive than Sanderson's usual works

This book is amazing. It has all the good qualities of Sanderson's books, but the tone is more positive than usually. Sanderson seems to like plot line where things start bad, are stable for a while, things go bad, things go really bad, despair settles in, all hope is lost, a miracle happens. This book contains all those but the tone is bit more positive, so the reader feels less despair.

This is a story of finding one's self. Of magical worlds and wonders. If you liked Sanderson's other works you will love this one too. The story takes place in the cosmere and if you read the stormlight archives like the oathbringer, you will find lot of inside references.

The book is surprising, the plot twists are really good. The characters are well developed and the world building is substantial. Narration is immaculate and easily likable. Every fan of high fantasy should read this. Buy it now, you won't be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book

I keep getting amazed by the writing if Brandon Sanderson. i finished this book after the thirth part of the stormlight archive. Its said tgat you should listen to it before reading the thirth part because of some cross characters. Nevertheless great stand alone story.